Simple, Seasonal Goodness: Celebrating Advent with a Difference

I first published this post last year, but too close to Christmas to fill the linky list. We will probably do a similarly simple advent calendar this year, and some hand made gifts of [stop reading family members!] lip balm and body butter.

What will you do? If you need some ideas, take a look at the posts in the linky list. There are some lovely ideas and tutorials there. Leave a message or link up your end of year posts below.

Over the past month I’ve read of lots of lovely ways to mark the passing of the days, the seasons and the year, with craft activities, meals, Advent calendars and Solstice parties.

So below, I’ve created a Linky List for you to add your post on something you are doing this year, be it an Advent calendar you’ve made, a wreath or garland, home made presents or locally sourced feasts.

Or, add a post about the way you are approaching the holiday season this year, without or without presents, family, friends, introspection or renewal.

But first, here’s my family’s advent calendar for 2012:

I borrowed the basic idea from Tricia, stringing up gum leaves and bits of bark to count down the days. But instead of a craft activity for each day (too hard with three widely spaced kids and school still going), each item is marked P, A, M or H, for Plant, Animal, Mineral or Human.

Over the month, we will be building a nativity scene on our sometime-nature table, using parts of the one I made in Mikaela’s playgroup a few years back. On the animal and human days I will supply something (a wise man, shepherd, sheep, donkey, echidna or bee – slightly random I know!), and on the mineral and plant days, the kids will find something in the garden to decorate the table.

At the same time, each day Mary and Joseph will take a step closer to the stable where they will arrive on Christmas Eve.

And on the 21st, instead of a letter, the leaf is marked SUN, because the 21st is the Summer Solstice.

My plan is to hang a big sun on that day, but that isn’t entirely in keeping with the traditional nativity scene, so I may come up with something more creative and separate to the advent-nature table, we’ll see. Either way we will do something to mark the longest day of the year and celebrate the summer sun.

As for presents on the day, in my family we limit it mainly to children, but I have always wanted my children to be involved in giving as well as receiving, so we usually make some gifts together.

In the past we’ve made jam, the kids have done drawings and made cards, and posted pics of themselves to absent grandparents and godparents. One year Liam sewed a picture frame out of felt for one of the grandparents too. This year they’re already done cards (though I haven’t posted them), and we are planning to have some preserved lemons to giveaway, but we’ll see how we go! 🙂

For the kids, I haven’t decided exactly to what to give yet, but I am planning to put together a cardboard solar oven kit for them to make, if I can get to it 🙂

What are you doing, or what have you made, or how are you approaching this holiday season?

There are so many ways celebrate this season, whether you are celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, the Summer Solstice or the Winter.

Thanks for commenting Kate, me too. Something about Christmas always brings out the crafty in me – not just the present giving/making either. I think it’s from when I was a kid and the last week or two of school always had a lot of Christmas craft activities in the wind down to the summer holidays.

Love looking at what everyone is doing for Christmas, wish my hands were still willing to do what my brain is telling them, I would love to do my craft work, but these days I must content myself with teaching others.
The month of December is always busy for Jeze and me, street parties for the street folk and homeless begin on the night of November 30th and continue throughout the month, a night each at different locations throughout eastern Melbourne.

The link is for what I used to be able to do, and what I now teach others. Happy Christmas everyone. God bless.

I really need to pull my finger out and start thinking seriously about Christmas craft and stuff! I made advent bunting last year, and this year I want to make peg angels with the kids, to hold our daily bible verses. I do love this leaf idea though 🙂EssentiallyJess recently posted..Annoying Annoyances

Hi Kirsten, thanks for inviting me to link up! What a wonderful idea! I adore your gum leaf advent calendar. I’m a lover of all things nature so this really appeals to me. Today I have finally dug out the Christmas tree and decorations and my daughter, her boyfriend and myself have been decorating the tree and putting around decorations. It’s finally starting to feel a little bit like Christmas! Min xoMin@MinsMash recently posted..Christmas

Kirsten in Brief…

In 2010 Kirsten was on maternity leave with her third child, firmly established in suburbia, and needed an outlet for her passion for the environment & sustainable living. Thus Sustainable Suburbia was born.

In 2014 she became a Norwex Independent Sales Consultant, and found a new way to pursue her passion, teaching small groups of (mostly) women about how to get rid of many of the toxic chemicals in their homes.

In 2015 she discovered it could be even more rewarding to help other women pursue their goals, when she became a leader with Norwex.

In 2018 she plans to help even more people to ditch the nasty chemicals and in some cases to start teaching others to do the same. She hopes to bring many more people into the Norwex family. She also hopes to find time to produce a 2nd edition of Less Toxic Living.